Start of a Beautifully Awkward Friendship
by Just-Absolutely-Super
Summary: The day after Adrien gives Marinette his umbrella, she tries to give it back to its proper owner. Adrien, however, doesn't want it back.
**AN:** Everyone's gotta write a scene pertaining to the Umbrella Scene™ right?

Okay so, I always wondered what became of that umbrella. Did Marinette keep it and add it to the collection of her Adrien shrine? Or would she decide to give it back? Whatever the current status is, it's unknown as far as I know. So I decided to go ahead and write my interpretation of what might have happened the day following that fateful scene.

The end result? Adrien and Marinette are hella awkward but sweet at the same time and I don't know what I'm gonna do with them.

Anyways, that's all for my rambling. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** Miraculous Ladybug is © Thomas Astruc and Zagtoon. Believe me, I could _never_ produce something as brilliant as this show.

* * *

No one quite knew what to expect on the third day of school.

After the fiasco of having one of your classmates turn into a stone monster, purple (possibly demonic) butterflies infesting the neighborhood, and the appearance of two superheroes dressed as a ladybug and a cat; well then, honestly _anything_ was possible!

That didn't stop everyone from staring in surprise when they saw Marinette Dupain-Cheng walk up to the new kid at the front of the school, looking nervous and shy while clutching a black umbrella.

Didn't she hate his guts?

"Uh-umm," Marinette tried to speak, her already blushing cheeks becoming redder. Honestly, this has never happened before! _Sure_ , she's had some crushes in the past and she tended to be awkward, but _this_ was on some other level. It was like every time she looked at Adrien her mouth would dry up and all coherent thought flew right out the window!

She blamed him for this. Him and his pretty face with his nice blond hair that looked soft to the touch and his grass-green eyes that practically _shined_. OH, and then there was the fact that he was so kind-hearted and sincere and—

She really needed to get a grip!

"Hey," Adrien greeted her, all smiles and looking as if he didn't notice the feisty girl he got on the wrong foot with yesterday seemed to have gone brain dead and speechless in front of him.

 _God_ , why was he so _perfect_?!

Marinette shook her head to try and rid her thoughts. She needed to focus on the task at hand here! There is no room for failure!

"H-Hi!" she managed to stutter out, her grip on the umbrella tightening as if it would give her courage to speak, "I—uhh—I just wanted to, umm, you give thanks—wait! I mean, my thanks to give—no, no that's not right!" she sighed and smacked her head.

Smooth, Dupain-Cheng, _real smooth_.

"What I meant to say was," she tried again, opting to close her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at him and see his reaction to how much of a total spazz she was (strangely enough, it helped with talking to him), and held out the black umbrella to him, "thank you for giving me your umbrella yesterday."

Marinette dared to crack an eye open to look at Adrien. Her heart fluttering at the genuinely happy look marring his handsome ( _Really handsome—NO! Focus, Marinette!_ ) face.

"Oh, it was no problem at all," Adrien replied, eyes sparkling, "I was just glad to help. It would have been bad for you to walk all the way home in the rain."

"W-Well, I don't live that far anyway," she began but then widened her eyes on how that could have sounded to him, "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture! You're so kind—I mean, it was kind _of_ you! Not that I don't think you're kind—err well actually in the beginning I didn't, but then the rain happened and—WAIT NO, I—"

"It's okay, Marinette," Adrien interrupted her, voice soothing as he tried to calm the girl's nerves, "I know what you mean."

Marinette was mortified at her behavior. Will she _ever_ give him a good impression of herself? At least he was polite enough to keep smiling at her as if he didn't mind how much of a bumbling fool she was.

 _He's so amazing!_

Marinette gave an awkward chuckle, but then noticed that Adrien had yet to take back the umbrella she was handing out to him.

"Uhh, aren't you going to take it back?"

Adrien seemed to have realized what she was doing as he looked down at the item like he was just now noticing it was there.

"Oh! No, it's alright, you can keep it. I don't mind."

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "But it's yours. What if you need it?"

Adrien chuckled, "It's not like I don't own other umbrellas."

Oh, well, duh! But that still didn't really make Marinette more comfortable about just _taking_ it from him.

Adrien noticed this and waved his hand at her, "Really, Marinette, I _want_ you to have it! Just think of it as a symbol."

Now Marinette was even more confused, "A symbol?"

"Yeah, of our friendship," he replied, beaming at her and showing off his teeth. Huh, Marinette noticed, it seems he has a bit of an overbite. Like bunny teeth…

Heaven help her, it should be _illegal_ to be that adorable!

 _Wait a second_ , Marinette's brain short-circuited when she processed Adrien's words. _He wants the umbrella to be_ …

"Ah, crap, I shouldn't have said that should I?" Adrien suddenly sputtered upon noticing the gaping look the girl was giving him, cheeks tinted red as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. A nervous gesture, Marinette presumed.

Marinette deflated a bit, "What do you—?"

"I mean, I just kinda said that without thinking," now it was Adrien's turn to ramble, avoiding his classmate's eyes as he continued with his explanation, "We didn't get off to a good start, but after giving you that umbrella I just thought—you know—we were okay? And that we were friends now? Oh, man, I knew I shouldn't have assumed! I'm really _not_ good at this making friends stuff! I'm sorry—"

"N-No! No, Adrien, it's okay," Marinette told him, the tables being turned to where it's now _her_ trying to calm _him_ down. They really were quite the pair, huh?

"Huh?" Adrien asked, giving Marinette a quizzical look.

"I'm glad you consider us friends! And that you want me to keep your umbrella," she said, wanting to put emphasis on the two main things she knew Adrien was worried about, "It just took me a bit off guard, is all."

She gave him a genuine smile and brought the umbrella back toward her, holding it up to her chest and giving it a meaningful look, "I'll keep it with me. To be a…symbol. Yeah, I'll look at it and whenever I see it, I'll think of you and our friendship!"

It was a rather cheesy thing to say, but it had the proper impact as Adrien's own smile returned and the light of his green eyes came back full force. Marinette made a silent vow to fight _anyone_ who dared to wipe this precious look off of his face.

"Really? Thanks, Marinette. That means a lot."

They just stood there for a few minutes, staring at each other and sharing a smile when they heard the bell ring. The two immediately took off to class. Adrien tried starting a conversation with her, but whatever confidence and courage Marinette had five minutes prior must've ran out because she found herself once again stumbling over her words and struggling to come up with tangible sentences.

When she returned home that afternoon, she placed Adrien's umbrella in a holder with the other umbrellas she owns in her room. True to her words, whenever she looked at it she thought of rain, thunder, sincere words, blond hair as bright as the sun, kind grass-green eyes, and carefree laughter that was so pure no other noise could compare.

She's got it _so_ bad!

* * *

 **AN:** Writing Marinette is so easy because I too am painfully awkward around my crushes. It also helps that I also adore the precious cinnamon roll that is Adrien Agreste, my cat son.

Drop me a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


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